Managing Destinations and Destination Groups

About
Destinations

Destinations are phone
numbers or email addresses to which Cisco Unity Connection can transfer your
incoming calls or send text messages as a part of personal call transfer rules.
There are three types of destinations:

Phone

Phone
destinations are phone numbers to which Connection can transfer incoming calls.

Phone numbers
associated with you in the Connection directory can be used as phone
destinations. These might include your primary extension, voicemail access
number, and company mobile phone number. Phone numbers in the directory are
maintained by your Connection administrator.

You can also
create personal phone destinations, such as your personal mobile phone number,
your home phone number (if it is not listed in the Connection directory), and
phone numbers at which you can be reached during a business trip. You manage
these destinations in the Personal Call Transfer Rules web tool.

SMS

SMS destinations
are phone numbers for SMS devices to which Connection can send a text message.
The message uses the standard format “You have a call from <number or
extension> at <time> on <date>.” (For example, “You have a call
from 3233 at 15:16 on 04 October 2010.”)

Note that for an
SMS destination to be used in a rule, it must be added to a destination group
that contains at least one phone destination. (SMS destinations do not appear
in the Destination list on the Rule page when you are creating a rule.)

SMS devices may
be added for you by your Connection administrator, and you may be able to
modify them in the Messaging Assistant web tool. SMS devices do not need to be
enabled in the Messaging Assistant to be available as a destination in the
Personal Call Transfer Rules web tool.

SMTP

SMTP
destinations are email addresses to which Connection can send a text message.
The message uses the standard format “You have a call from <number or
extension> at <time> on <date>.” (For example, “You have a call
from 3233 at 15:16 on 04 October 2010.”)

Note that for an
SMTP destination to be used in a rule, it must be added to a destination group
that contains at least one phone destination. (SMTP destinations do not appear
in the Destination list on the Rule page when you are creating a rule.)

SMTP devices may
be created for you by your Connection administrator, and you may be able to
modify them in the Messaging Assistant web tool. SMTP devices do not need to be
enabled in the Messaging Assistant to be available as a destination in the
Personal Call Transfer Rules web tool.

HTML

HTML destinations are email addresses to which
Connection can send email. The email uses the standard format “You have a call
from <number > <extension>.” (For example, “You have a call from
Jana [1014] ”).

Creating Personal Destinations

On the Destinations page, select the New Destination icon below the menu bar.

Step 3

On the Create Destination page, in the Name field, enter a name for the destination.

Step 4

In the Phone Number field, enter a phone number for the destination.

Use digits 0 through 9. Do not use spaces or parentheses between digits. For long-distance numbers, also include 1 and the area code.

You may not be able to enter certain phone numbers, or your phone system may require additional characters (for example, you may be required to enter an access code to dial outgoing numbers). If you are experiencing difficulties with this setting, contact your Connection administrator.

Step 5

In the Rings to Wait field, enter the number of rings you want Connection to wait before transferring the call to voicemail or to the next destination in a destination group, depending on your other call transfer settings. The default value is four rings.

Step 6

If you have set this destination to forward calls to Connection, check the Loop Detection Enabled check box.

If you create a rule that transfers calls from Connection to a phone destination, you may inadvertently create a call-looping situation in which Connection forwards calls to your phone, and your phone consequently forwards the call back to Connection, and callers may never be able to reach you. Selecting this setting when you configure this type of destination to forward calls to Connection can help eliminate call-looping problems.

On the Destinations page, in the Rings to Wait column, enter the new value for the number of rings you want Connection to wait before transferring the call to voicemail or to the next destination in a destination group.

Step 3

Select Update.

Changing the Loop-Detection Setting for Destinations

For phone destinations other than your primary extension, you can use the Loop Detection Enabled setting to indicate when you have configured a phone to forward calls to Cisco Unity Connection. For example, you may configure your mobile phone to forward all calls to Connection to store all your voice messages in Connection. If you then create a rule that transfers calls from Connection to your mobile phone, you may inadvertently create a call-looping situation in which Connection forwards calls to your mobile phone, and your mobile phone consequently forwards calls back to Connection, and callers may never be able to reach you.

Selecting this setting can help to eliminate the call-looping problem. If calls seem to be transferring from the phone destination to Connection and then back to the phone, Connection will either transfer the call to the next assigned device (if you have created a destination group) or transfer the call to voicemail if there are no additional destinations defined.

Note

When this setting is enabled, you can expect to hear a slight delay as Connection transfers the call to the next destination in the destination group, or to voicemail.

If you have set this destination to forward calls to Cisco Unity Connection, check the Loop Detection Enabled check box.

Step 3

Select Update.

About Destination Groups

Destination groups contain multiple destinations arranged in a sequence and stored under a single group name.

For example, to ensure that you receive calls from a specific contact, you might create a destination group with your primary extension, mobile, and home phone numbers, then create a rule that tells Cisco Unity Connection to transfer calls from the contact to the destination group. To be used in a rule, a destination group must contain at least one phone destination.

When a call is transferred to a destination group, Connection tries the destinations in the order listed until a phone is answered, until the caller leaves a voice message or hangs up, or until the last destination in the group is reached. If the group contains an SMS or SMTP destination, Connection sends the device a text message about the call.

If a destination is not answered, Connection prompts the caller to press 1 to continue waiting while it tries the next destination or to press 2 to leave a voice message. Connection waits for a phone to be answered based on the specified number of rings, which is set in the Rings to Wait field when you create a destination. If you do not specify a number of rings, Connection uses the default value of four rings. You can change the Rings to Wait setting anytime after you create a destination.

When Connection runs out of destinations, the call is forwarded to your default phone number or to the primary extension in the destination group, which is typically your primary extension.

Creating Destination Groups

You can add any of your destinations to a destination group. You can also add a destination to more than one destination group. A destination group must contain at least one phone number.

The order of destinations within a group is important because Cisco Unity Connection dials the destinations from top to bottom as they appear in the list. After you add destinations to a group, you may need to reorder them to suit your needs.

On the Destinations Groups page, select the New Destination Group icon below the menu bar.

Step 3

On the Destination Group page, enter the name of the group.

Step 4

Select Save.

Step 5

On the Destination Group page, select Add Destinations.

Step 6

On the Add Destinations page, check the check box next to the destination that you want to add to the group. You can check multiple check boxes to add more than one destination at a time.

Step 7

Select Add Destinations.

Step 8

On the Destination Group page, enter numbers in the Priority column to specify the order in which you want Connection to try the destinations in the group. (For example, to call your mobile phone first and your home phone second, enter 1 for your mobile phone and 2 for your home phone.)

Step 9

Select Save.

Changing Destination Groups

You can change the group name, add or delete destinations from the group, and change the priority order of the destinations in the group.